1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a condition detecting system and method which performs detection of the condition of a person in an observing sector in a building or a house by using detecting means including a plurality of distance sensors.
2. Related Art of the Invention
Previously, in order to detect the condition of a person in a specific area, it has been normally practiced that a picture in the space is measured by a CCD camera or an infrared ray camera and an observer directly performs observation through a monitoring screen, or that a person in the area is cut out of the picture and the recognition of the person is performed by a picture recognizing system.
In the former case, it is necessary to watch the monitoring screen at all times, and it is difficult to cover a plurality of observing areas, and in the latter case, the system is considerably expensive, and the uses are limited. Furthermore, judgment is difficult as for the attitude of the person or the like.
Moreover, a method of using an observing camera like this ignores the privacy of a patient in a hospital or a facility, which causes a problem. For example, in a toilet of the hospital or the like, in case when a long time has elapsed after a patient entered, there is an anxiety about the safety of the patient, and in case of a conventional method, it is necessary to confirm whether the patient is staying there for a long time or not, or whether the patient has fallen down in the toilet or not.
However, the confirmation must be performed while maintaining privacy. For that, a patrol, a nurse, or the like performs checking, and both labor and time are required, and there has been no simple, easy, and inexpensive system which can detect the condition of the patient staying in an observing sector such as a toilet.